


Once and Always, and Again

by PockySquirrel



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Megaforce
Genre: Dimensions in Danger, F/M, Fun with continuity, Grid Theory, Legendary Battle, This is probably Jossed already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 18:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17391725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PockySquirrel/pseuds/PockySquirrel
Summary: Based upon my own pet theories of how and why Tommy's Master Morpher came to be. Set pre-Legendary Battle, the mechanism that restored everyone's powers has an unintended and catastrophic side effect. Tommy's friends scramble to save his life, and Tommy himself faces a personal reckoning as his career as a Ranger turns out to not be as finished as he thought.





	Once and Always, and Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSecondBatgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/gifts).



_ The Grid is color and light. It feels just like it always has as it phases through him, its power suffusing every cell of his body. It warms his skin. It flows through his veins with every heartbeat. It sings in his ears, calling him to fight. _

 

_ The Grid is color and light.  _

_ (Blazing, blinding) _

_ It feels just like it always has. _

_ (No, something is different, something is wrong) _

_ It phases through him, its power-  _

_ (Power that shouldn't exist, power that's been gone for years) _

_ -suffusing every cell of his body. _

_ (This isn't supposed to hurt) _

_ It warms his skin. _

_ (He's burning from the inside out) _

_ It flows through his veins with every heartbeat. _

_ (Beating too fast, too hard) _

_ It sings in his ears, calling him to fight. _

 

_ Calling him. _

 

“Tommy?”

 

_ Calling him. _

 

“Tommy!”

 

_ Someone is calling his name. _

 

***

 

On the bio-bed in the medical bay of an Aquitian ship, Tommy raised a trembling hand, reaching for nothing that was actually there. 

 

“It's calling me,” he mumbled. His words were slurred. 

 

Cestria made a soft, warbling sound of dismay and adjusted the flow rate on his sedative drip.

 

It seemed to do the trick as he fells silent again, arm dropping bonelessly to the side. Kat picked up his hand, held it between both of hers.

 

“What's happening to him?”

 

She directed the question to a fairly harried-looking Billy Cranston, currently poring over scan results at the terminal across the room. One could hardly blame him; his day had started with his being jolted awake by the sudden and urgent certainty that first, he was somehow able to morph, and second, that he needed to get to Earth immediately. Since then, he had gathered his similarly afflicted Aquitian compatriots, prepped the ship, flown to Earth at top speed, fielded a dozen confused and/or panicked messages en route from former Earth Rangers who had also spontaneously regained their powers, nearly been shot down by the Armada fleet prowling his homeworld's orbit, managed an emergency landing without being traced, and barely had time to catch his breath before being informed that something was terribly wrong with Tommy. All of the chaos was interrelated, and it had not taken Billy long to make an educated guess at the cause. But the effect this event was having on his old friend was disturbing, to say the least.

 

He kept his explanation brief. “As far as I can tell, the mechanism that has restored our powers backfired on him and is forcing a dangerous amount of morphing energy into his body. His systems can't cope with that amount of power and are starting to shut down.”

 

Kat held Tommy's hand just a bit tighter, stroked her thumb over his wedding ring. 

 

“Is he going to die?” she asked.

 

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Billy replied. 

 

Cestro paged him from the bridge. He answered.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I have triangulated the epicenter of the disturbance,” Cestro said. “Sending coordinates now.”

 

With a few keystrokes, Billy mapped and cross-referenced. “Kat, does the name ‘Harwood’ ring any bells?”

 

Kat's brow creased momentarily in thought. “Yes. They have a Ranger team there. They've been active for awhile now. But their powers changed several months ago. Some of the newer veterans found it strange and went to investigate.”

 

“Strange?”

 

“Yes. As odd as this sounds, from what I've heard, they're able to turn into other teams.”

 

Billy nodded slightly as his theory was confirmed. He turned to Cestria.

 

“I'm going. He won't be rational if he regains consciousness, so keep him sedated. Watch his vital signs. Call me if there's any change.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“Where are you going?” Kat asked.

 

“To find a solution.”

 

***

 

Billy's teleportation into the cave was greeted, predictably, by alarm klaxons, and less predictably by a small, wheeled robot speeding toward him and circling in a way that he supposed was meant to be menacing. Though the robot's design was unfamiliar, the panicked tone of its voice reminded him acutely of Alpha 5.

 

“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”

 

“Stand down, Tensou,” came a booming voice from the far wall. “This man is no intruder. I can sense his connection to the Grid.”

 

Billy turned to the face on the wall - an unusual being, to be sure, but Billy had seen enough of the universe and its glorious diversity to be unsurprised - and bowed his head slightly in a polite greeting. 

 

“Gosei, I presume?”

 

“You are correct. And you? Your knowledge of this place, and of me, suggests you are no more Ranger.”

 

“My name is Billy Cranston. I too was a student of Zordon's. Information on the key system and your role as its custodian was included in the data he left to me.”

 

“If that is so, you are no doubt already aware of what is taking place and why.”

 

“Affirmative.”

 

“Then what brings you here, young Gridmaster?”

 

“I’m here to address an error in Zordon’s design,” Billy said.

 

“An error? Of what sort?”

 

“He failed to account for Tommy Oliver.”

 

Tensou beeped at him thoughtfully. “Oliver, Oliver, why does that name sound familiar? Searching database now.”

 

There was a momentary pause as the robot executed his search and transmitted the results to Gosei, followed by another, slightly more distressed-sounding beep.

 

“Oh dear,” Tensou said. “I can see how that could be a problem.”

 

“Since the keys activated, the system has been attempting to connect Tommy to four, possibly even five different wavelengths of Grid energy simultaneously,” Billy explained. “His body and mind can’t handle that amount of power. One of my dearest friends, and the man Zordon would have chosen to stand at the head of Earth’s army in this moment, will die if we don’t intervene.”

 

“That truly would be an unacceptable loss,” Gosei agreed. “I will assist you in any way that I can. What is it you require?”

 

“I need a schematic,” Billy replied. “For the morpher your Rangers use to harness the power of the keys.”

 

***

 

_ He’s standing in a forest. _

 

_ There’s something strange about this place. It’s eerily silent, devoid of the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves. Not a peaceful quiet, but a dead one. The light that filters through the trees is sickly and cold. There’s something familiar about it all, and he feels like there’s something he should be doing, but he can’t remember what. _

 

_ Wait. _

 

_ He’s been here before. This place was a battlefield. He fought here. Fought against himself. Himself? No.  _

 

_ Against death. _

 

_ He fought for his life in this place, in his dreams as he had lain unconscious, dying.  _

 

_ His dreams. _

 

“Tommy?”

 

_ This is a dream. _

 

“Wake up, Tommy.”

 

_ Someone is calling his name. _

 

_ He walks toward the sound. _

 

***

 

“Whoa.”

 

Tommy’s first words upon awakening were hardly articulate. He blinked, clearing the remaining blurriness out of his vision, and looked around, taking stock of his surroundings out loud in utter confusion.

 

“Kat? ...Billy?! Cestria? When did you guys...wait, where am I?”

 

Kat leaned over and hugged Tommy fiercely, burying her face in his shoulder. He put his arm around her, stroking her back.

 

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “I’m right here. Where’s JJ?”

 

“Hayley’s got him,” Kat said. “I called her when all this started.”

 

Billy shoved his macro-goggles up onto his forehead and turned around from where he had been working to face them fully, a hint of a smile on his face.

 

“Good morning,” he said.

 

“What happened?” Tommy asked.

 

“In short? You have your powers back.”

 

“Which ones?”

 

“All of them.”

 

“Oh man. Why do I get the feeling that’s not as cool as it sounds?”

 

“To say it went poorly would be the understatement of the century.”

 

“How are you feeling?” Kat asked.

 

Tommy took a moment to consider that, and another in struggling to find an adequate word for the answer before settling on, “Weird.”

 

Cestria, fiddling with something on the bio-bed controls, shot him a perplexed look. “Could you, perhaps, provide a more clinically useful description than ‘weird’?”

 

Kat made a valiant effort not to laugh.

 

“All right,” Tommy relented. “I feel...energized, sort of? But weak, too. I dunno...it almost reminds me of what it felt like back when the Green Ranger powers were failing. When Zordon tried to recharge them.”

 

“I’d say that’s logical,” Billy said. “Considering that you’re recovering from a massive overload of very similar energy.”

 

“And that’s also why I have my powers back?”

 

“We all do,” Kat explained. “It turns out the Morphing Grid has a backup system. It kept a copy of all our powers, even the ones we thought were completely destroyed, so they could be recovered if they were needed again.”

 

“Whatever’s going on must be pretty bad to need all of us.”

 

“I’ve treated refugees from worlds invaded by the Armada,” Cestria supplied, softly. “It is no exaggeration to say, it will take everything we have to defeat them here.”

 

At that, Tommy stubbornly hefted himself into a more upright position. “Then nobody had better tell me I need time to recover, because I’m not sitting this one out.”

 

Kat sighed and shook her head. “I’d like to, but it wouldn’t work and would probably just make things worse.”

 

Tommy reached over to cup his hand around the back of her neck, fingers gently carding through her hair. “You know me too well.”

 

“Questioning why you married him yet?” Billy quipped. 

 

Kat chuckled; Tommy rolled his eyes and groaned dramatically. 

 

“So that’s how it is? I was out long enough for you two to gang up on me?”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Billy insisted with a smirk. “Think you can stand? I’ve got something over here that you’ll want to see.”

 

“I think so, yeah.”

 

With Kat spotting him, Tommy got up off the bio-bed, tested his legs, was pleased when they didn’t give out on him. He padded over to Billy’s makeshift workstation and peered over his shoulder at the device that was taking shape there. It was a nondescript, silvery box, roughly the size and shape of his old morpher, but lacking the embellishments and devoid of a Power Coin. 

 

“What is it?” he asked.

 

“The thing that’s keeping you alive and functional right now. It’s a temporary fix, but it  will block your connection to most of the competing energy wavelengths that are contributing to the overload. I've designed it to allow access to one set of powers while filtering out the rest."

 

"Which one do I get to keep?"

 

"I figured that ought to be your decision. Which one do you want?"

 

"Green," Tommy replied with no hesitation. 

 

Billy gave him a sidelong look before beginning the necessary modifications. "Interesting choice."

 

Tommy shrugged. “What can I say, I’m just an old-fashioned kind of guy.”

 

After a few additions and adjustments, Billy closed up the device’s case and handed it to Tommy.

 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to do too much testing. But before you take it into the field, I need to confirm that it will sustain a morph and continue blocking the other energy streams. The activation sequence is identical to that of your original Green Ranger morpher. If you’re feeling up to it, go ahead and try it out.”

 

Tommy closed his hand around the device and grinned. “Always.”

 

He moved into a stance that felt as natural as breathing and made the call. 

 

“Dragonzord!”

 

The Grid was color and light, and it felt just like it always had.

 

***

 

_ The Grid is color and light. It feels just like it always has as it phases through him, its power suffusing every cell of his body. It warms his skin. It flows through his veins with every heartbeat. It sings in his ears, calling him to fight. _

 

_ It calls, and he answers. _

 

_ He leads. _

 

_ He fights. _

 

_ He wins. _

 

They  _ win, together. _

 

_ It’s over.  _

 

_ It’s over, and he is left with an echo. Another memory to add to a long list. _

 

_ He is standing on his back porch. Listening to the wind in the trees. Listening to JJ’s laughter as he races around the yard. It’s peaceful here. There’s no evidence at all that just days ago, both the planet and his life were in peril. _

 

_ His powers still work. He doesn’t need them. _

 

_ Billy’s device is still in his pocket. He doesn’t know why. But there’s something comfortable about having it there. He takes it out. Looks at it. Turns it over in his hand. Runs his fingertips over the casing, feeling the faint current of the Grid through the smooth metal.  _

 

_ He wonders. _

 

_ He’s built morphers before. Modifying one is simple by comparison. Maybe he could modify this one. Maybe instead of blocking the Grid’s energy, he could modulate it. Maybe instead of having one set of powers, he could switch between them. He knows it can be done. The Megaforce team has that ability. Maybe he can, too. _

 

_ He doesn’t need it. _

 

_ But someday, he might. _

 

_ Maybe he’ll need his powers again. _

 

_ Maybe the world will need him again. _

 

_ He wonders. _

 

“Tommy?”

 

_ He puts the device back in his pocket, and walks inside. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
